


Bounce

by AnonEhouse



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-22
Updated: 2012-05-23
Packaged: 2017-11-05 20:18:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/410598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonEhouse/pseuds/AnonEhouse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I saw a prompt on <a href="http://avengerkink.livejournal.com/4305.html?thread=3346641#t3346641"> here on Avengerkink</a> requesting a fic in which someone builds a man cage for the Hulk. I couldn't find the prompt by the time I started writing the story, so this doesn't quite match what was requested.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

(If you are reading this on any PAY site this is a STOLEN WORK, the author has NOT Given Permission for it to be here. If you're paying to read it, you're being cheated too because you can read it on Archiveofourown for FREE.)

"This is ridiculous. Banner has got it so under control, even talking to Fury doesn't make him break out in green." Tony was annoyed, really annoyed. "Do you seriously mean that I can't invite him to conduct research on _my own_ premises without... without having a _cage_ for him?"

Bruce cleared his throat. "Well, you know, it would probably help keep your insurance premiums down."

"Stark Industries is self-insured! Wait," Tony turned away from Maria Hill to face Bruce. "You _want_ that? I'm not afraid of the big guy, why does everyone treat him like he's crazy? He's angry, sure, and so he breaks a few things, but hey, I blow up shit all the time and no one wants to put me in a cage." Tony whirled again to glare at Hill. "Don't say it."

Bruce sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Hey, Tony, I appreciate it, but fighting the government just gets old."

"Fine, fine, I'll build a time-out room."

***

"Take off your shoes," Tony said, demonstrating by pulling off his light-up Iron Man sneakers and depositing them on the floor outside of one of the translucent walls of the Hulk-out room, as Tony called it. From the angle of the three walls Bruce could see, it seemed the room was octagonal.

Bruce took off his shoes. "You know, if shoes can damage this room..."

"No, no, of course not, but it's more fun barefoot."

"Fun?" Bruce followed Tony into the room and immediately noticed it had a domed ceiling two floors high. "Hey." He stepped into a pile of brightly colored plastic balls. "You made the Hulk a bounce castle?"

"A high-tech bounce castle!" Tony went to the center of the room where a huge round bed rose out of the carpet of balls. "Trampoline!" He demonstrated, bouncing off the ceiling accompanied by tinkling musical tones. "Piano point ceiling. And whack-a-mole wall over there." Tony waved in mid-air.

Bruce looked at the heads popping up. Some of them looked suspiciously like Nick Fury, and others were very like General Ross. "This won't last five minutes."

"Nah, don't worry, I incorporated my armor's inertial dampeners into everything. It'll absorb the force and spread it out over the whole room. I don't say the big guy couldn't get out, if he really tried, but why would he?" Tony bounced off the bed and went over to another wall. He touched the wall and it slid back to reveal a lavatory complete with oversized facilities. "Shower alcove - good acoustics... bathtub complete with rubber ducky fleet..."

"The Hulk isn't a child," Bruce said, but he was thinking that maybe the Hulk would enjoy a nice hot soak in verbena-scented bubbles.

"Wait! You haven't seen the snack bar." Another wall opened at a touch, revealing shelves filled with very nearly every junk food, soft drink, and alcoholic beverage known to man. "And that wall's the movie theater." Tony touched it and the wall lit up with dozens of small images. "Just touch the one you want and it fills the wall, the sound comes on a few seconds later. Get bored and touch it again, it's back to the multiple choices." Tony touched the wall twice more and it went back to semi-transparent. "Well?" Tony looked at Bruce. "What do you think?"

"I think that if the other guy doesn't smash his way out in the first ten seconds, he might stay here. It's the first ten seconds you have to worry about."

"Eh." Tony went back to the trampoline bed and laid down. "I'm not worried. They told me, you know."

"What?" Bruce found a packet of dried papaya chunks and opened it. 

"That you caught me before I became a can of Iron Man Spam." Tony looked at Bruce.

"Yeah, well... like I said, he's not a child. He knows who his friends are."

"Does he know he can trust them?" Tony sat up. "Does he know that he doesn't have to be afraid of me?"

Bruce laughed. "Why would he be afraid of you?"

"Because I'm his friend and he's not used to having friends. It's frightening."

"Yeah." Bruce sat down on the bed next to Tony and held out the packet. "Papaya?"

"Thanks." Tony took a piece and chewed on it. "So. Next time you talk to the big guy?"

"I'll tell him." Bruce lay down on the bed. "Admit it. You made this room because you always wanted a bounce castle."

Tony laughed. "Yeah. But a bounce castle's no fun without someone to share it."

Bruce grinned, a slowly widening grin. "We have got to get Thor in here."

"Oh, and Natasha!" Tony laid down next to Bruce, his hands outlining shapes. "And Steve and Clint. They're all much, much too serious."

Bruce munched on another piece of candied papaya. "Pizza. We need pizza."

"Helium. I love the squeaky voices."

Bruce nodded. "GEEK PARTY!" He sat up and turned in time to high-five Tony.


	2. BOUNCE, HULK

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Hulk tries out the room.

Bruce returned to the bounce castle later that evening. The other guy had been restless lately. He'd been thinking it was time to move on, but maybe... well, this room was made for the Hulk, he ought to at least try it out. It's stupid to dismiss an hypothesis without experimentation to test it. Maybe Tony wasn't entirely wrong about acknowledging the rage-monster.

He took off his shoes and entered the room. The door didn't even have a lock, he suddenly realized. Of course, it was also too small for the Hulk to get through, but it emphasized the fact that this wasn't a cage. He hoped the other guy would appreciate that. Bruce let out a long sigh. "All right, you can come out now." The change was faster, and less unpleasant when he didn't fight it, didn't push back against the cloudy curtains of emotion that blurred reason.

The Hulk roars, confused and angry as he always is each time he's reborn. There's always something to fight, something trying to hurt him. He crouches and turns around, looking for the enemy. His feet shift and he looks down. The ground is pretty colors. He pokes at it, and comes up with a red ball. Squishy. Pretty? He squeezes it and then drops it. Find and bash enemy. THERE! He walks through the bouncy floor and smashes the ugly face on the wall. Another one pops up. He smashes that. And another one. He grins. Ugly faces make funny noises when he smashes them. But they are only faces. Not real. Feels good to smash them, though. After a while he gets bored and remembers... there are things here. The man who gives him orders said so. Not that Hulk always listens to orders, but the man is smarter than Hulk so sometimes it is better to do as he says.

He pokes at the wall next to the enemy heads, and it opens. Hulk is not stupid, he knows food when he sees it. He doesn't usually get to eat in peace, because little people are always shouting at him when he tries to take something, but there are no little people here. He grabs a bag and rips it open. Cheesy things. He likes them. He pours the bag into his mouth and chews. Orange cheesy powder gets all over his hands. He likes the color. He bites the top off a bottle of lemonade and drinks that. Food is a good thing. His stomach growls. More food. Peanut butter crackers! Yes. Sticks of spicy dried meat. All good. Hulk knows bad food, sometimes smart man made him eat bad things, things to make him sleep. This is all good. Chocolate! Funny dried ice cream. Hulk eats and drinks until his stomach is quiet and happy, then he licks his sticky fingers and looks around. Smart man says there is place with water. Hulk likes water. Sometimes he finds water and sits in it and lets it run around him. Feels good.

The smart man is right, another wall opens and there is a place like the little people use for getting clean, only this is his size. Smooth, feels nice. He gets in the big smooth thing and water comes in, nice water, not cold like streams, or dirty like water around city. Warm. Good. There are bottles with pretty colors. He opens a green one. It smells nice, like plants, good plants. He puts it in the water and lies back, warm and smell good. And... little thing squeaks when he lies back. He grabs it and looks at it. Little... toy? Yes. More of them. He looks at them, yellow and pink and red and blue and they sit on the water and they smile at him. He pokes them and they squeak. He giggles and pushes them around. Toys. Hulk likes toys. Toys don't hurt.

After a while he gets bored and gets out of the water. Pants are always too tight, but smart man says he has to wear them. It's stupid, but usually he's too busy fighting enemies to bother with it. Pants are wet now and really annoying. He rips them off. Feels better. Hulk smells good. He picks up a pink toy and takes it with him. He looks up at the ceiling and remembers there's something to play with there, too, but he's feeling, not tired, but like he wants just to lie down and not do anything. Big bed would be good for lying on. It has big pillows so he can watch the picture wall smart man tells him is there.

He pokes at picture wall until he sees something he likes. It's outside, grass and trees. There are two dogs and a cat. He likes them. They are friends. He lies down and watches. The friends are lost... no... they are far from home but they know where home is. Hulk gets a big bag of candied popcorn and lies down to watch. Big dog protects his friends. Old dog tries to keep up. Cat is smart and fast. Hulk thinks it's good that they are friends and together. It would be hard for them to get home by themselves. Hulk eats popcorn. Smart man is quiet inside Hulk for once. This is good. Hulk wants to watch movie all the way to the end without getting pushed back down in the dark. Wants to see happy ending.

There had better be happy ending.

***

Tony hadn't told Bruce about the surveillance devices in the room. He was fairly sure Bruce knew they'd be there, but pointing them out would have been counter-productive. He wanted Bruce to see it as a recreational area, not a prison. So when the room was entered, he got the signal, and set the monitor to run on one of the holos he wasn't using for work. He glanced up from time to time, and was pleased to see that the Hulk had entered into the spirit of things. He noted that he should stock the room with some spare clothing for Bruce and returned his attention to work until he heard an odd noise nearly two hours later, and looked up in astonishment to see the Hulk sniffling.

There shouldn't be anything in the room to make him unhappy. Tony had even carefully vetted all the video selections. Ok, he had to see what the problem was. Tony shut off everything likely to explode or burn down the workshop and went to the Hulk-out room.

"Hey, big guy?" he called cautiously from the open doorway. Startling the Hulk is never a good idea. "What's wrong?"

The Hulk looked up at him and sniffled. "Bodger not come home." He pointed at the movie wall.

Tony came into the room and looked at the wall, trying to place the reference. A Siamese cat and a yellow retriever... "Oh! You're watching [The Incredible Journey](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_f-SoCJCJ4). It's all right." Tony sat next to the Hulk and patted him on the hand. "Don't give up on Bodger."

On screen the family watched as the fat white dog ran through the grass to the little boy who loved him.

"BODGER!" The Hulk jumped up and tossed Tony up to bounce off the ceiling, tinkling merrily. "BODGER COMES HOME!"

Tony landed back on the bed and bounced to his feet, blinking. "Yeah. Good movie."

"GOOD FRIENDS." The Hulk grinned at Tony, and held out the bag of candied popcorn.

"Yeah. Good friends." Tony took a handful of popcorn and smiled at the Hulk.


End file.
